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Wednesday, 26 November 2014

In case you’re new to WUW, it’s a blog hop created by
my sister Jaime and me, intended to help writers keep in touch with one another. If you’d like to participate,
please sign up on the linky below, and be sure to spread some writerly
encouragement around to at least a few other people taking part. Also, please remember to link back to our
host blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons. Thanks!

Last week, we asked if you’d like to set goals in our WUW posts. The overwhelming response was YES, so from now on, we’ll
include a writing-related goal under the "What I'm Writing" heading in hopes of keeping one
another accountable. Your goal doesn’t have to focus on word count. It can be
whatever you like, as long as it’s relevant to the writing process. Please try
to keep your goals reasonably brief. Thanks and good luck!

What I’m
Reading:

I'm still crawling through City of Heavenly Fire. Whenever I sit down to read lately, (which isn't very often, unfortunately) I fall asleep. This isn't the book's fault.

What I’m
Writing:

Seeing as I was either busy or sick for most of the
week, not much. I did some brainstorming and half-hearted mulling, but
creativity is being a jerk lately. My head is crammed full of other non-writing things these days, so my story isn’t simmering in there the way it
usually does. That’s problematic for me. I need simmering.

My
writing goal this week: I want to finish the scene
I’ve been working on, which will include some rewriting, and try to get back into the flow of this story again.

What Works For
Me:

Like I said above, I need time to simmer, mull, steep
like a teabag in water. I’m not a fast writer.
I don’t do well with word sprints or NaNoWriMo. That’s partly by choice (I
enjoy taking my time when choosing my words) and
partly because that’s the only way I can operate. If I haven’t had time to
think about my story during the day—you know, daydream a little, consider what
I’ll be working on later, ruminate on some ideas, get in the right mood—then I
find it really hard to jump into writing at night when I sit down to work. It’s
all about getting in the zone and letting the story come to life, which is
usually a gradual process for me.

What Else I’ve
Been Up To:

David's Salted Caramel tea & a Nordic mug from Jaime. Yum!

Remember last week when I pulled a dozen boxes of
books from our shelves to donate? Yeah, it’s now 35 boxes. I found another stack of boxes in the basement that I thought we'd gotten rid of already. And we still have
full shelves. We should not be allowed anywhere near used book sales, Indigo,
Costco, or Amazon ever, ever again. Naturally, we went book shopping this
weekend anyway. I also put together my Christmas list, which, so far, includes
only books. I never learn. Someone chain me to a wall in a room far away from
any means to buy anything with pages.

Other than that, the house renos continued, I baked banana-cranberry muffins, planned our Christmas baking, binge watched
Gilmore Girls, Skyped with my sister, homeschooled the heck out of my kid, opened my early birthday gift from Jaime, and wailed
over the amount of snow that dumped on us. Overall, a fairly normal week.

Wednesday, 19 November 2014

In case you’re new to WUW, it’s a blog hop created by
my sister Jaime and me, intended to help writers keep in touch with one another. If you’d like to participate,
please sign up on the linky below, and be sure to spread some writerly
encouragement around to at least a few other people taking part. Also, please remember to link back to our
host blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons. Thanks!

What I’m
Reading:

Still reading City
of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare.

What I’m
Writing:

Well, I got 1200 words out this week, and while those
words weren’t spectacular or full of inspiration, it’s something. Unfortunately,
I’m trying to dive back into writing in the middle of a tough scene—one that
was already giving me issues before I took a break. I finally had a brainwave for how to make it more exciting though, so the action is about to pick up, and I'm looking forward to that. I also did a
fair amount of research, most of which won’t actually appear in the scene, but
is crucial for informing how I write it.

What Works for
Me:

I know this is something writers differ on, especially
since we all have unique thought processes, but writing chronologically
works for me. Here’s why…

a) It helps me keep the plot straight in my mind. If I
jump around from scene to scene, I know my plot threads will get all snarled
up. Hey, I’m easily confused.

b) I feel like the story unfolds organically, with one
scene naturally leading into another. Even though I’m a staunch planner, a
scene can turn out differently than I expect, and that can affect everything
that comes after it. When I used to write out of order, I often found my scenes
to be more like individual vignettes that didn’t necessarily hinge together the
way I wanted them to.

c) If I write all the juicy scenes first, I lose my
motivation to write the rest, which ends up feeling like filler. When writing
chronologically, if I encounter a scene I’m not interested in, I stop and
brainstorm ideas that will make it more exciting to work on. You know what they
say: If a scene is boring to write, it’ll be boring to read. By not allowing
myself to skip over those scenes, I force myself to up the interest level. My
reward is moving on with the story.

It wasn’t until I started writing chronologically that
I actually finished a novel. I’d made many attempts before, and they all ended
in failure and frustration. When I decided to try a sci-fi novel, the idea was
challenging enough that I thought writing chronologically would help keep me
organized. Turns out that’s how I work best.

What Else I’ve
Been Up To:

It’s been one of those mostly boring but very
productive weeks around here. After our trip, I’m good with that. We’ve thrown
ourselves back into house renovations and getting rid of stuff we don’t need,
want, or wish we’d never owned in the first place. The Great Book Purge of 2014
also continues. I think I’ve weeded around a dozen boxes of books by now. Our
shelves are still full, so I suspect they’re multiplying like Gremlins when we
aren’t looking.

Since that’s been exhausting and it's freaking cold outside, we haven’t done much
else other than crash. We watched Catching
Fire (prep for Mockingjay) and The Fault in Our Stars (ugly cried just as hard this time), and the
hubby and I have fallen down the Gilmore
Girls vortex again now that it’s on Netflix. According to him, it’s just
as good the second time. I wholeheartedly agree on that. Some of the quirkiest,
cleverest writing ever to grace TV.

A question for
all of you: Jaime and I are thinking of adding a WUW
heading for setting weekly writing goals. We’ve decided we could both use the
accountability. Does that sound like something you’d all be interested in? Let
us know in the comments!

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

In case you’re new to WUW, it’s a blog hop created by
my sister Jaime and me, intended to help writers keep in touch with one another. If you’d like to participate,
please sign up on the linky below, and be sure to spread some writerly
encouragement around to at least a few other people taking part. Also, please remember to link back to our
host blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons. Thanks!

What I’m
Reading:

I’m reading City
of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. Since it’s gimongous though, I couldn’t
bring it on vacation with me. Seriously, I would’ve needed an extra suitcase
for that sucker. Instead I opted to read Obsidian
by Jennifer L. Armentrout on my ereader. Much smaller and lighter for airplane
reading. My son and I also finished Romeo
and Juliet for school.

What I’m
Writing:

At the moment? Zippo. As I mentioned in a previous
post, October was a stressful month and that resulted in putting writing
aside for a while. I can’t even tell you how hard that was to do. Of course, when
the going gets tough, the tough go on vacation, so while I haven’t been
writing, I’ve been recharging my inspirational batteries. Plus, while we were
off on our adventure, a new story idea was percolating in my mind—one that
branches off of my current WIP. I guess technically I did write a little then
because I scribbled out some snippets of dialogue in my handy dandy notebook at
the hotel. Jaime and I also had a monster Skype session when I got back in
which there was much discussion of our WIPs. Super helpful as always.

What Works For
Me:

Most times the Butt in Chair philosophy is good. I’ve
worked hard to establish a routine where I write almost every single day, BUT
sometimes I need to stop myself from writing. When the inspiration isn’t there,
when the creative well has run dry, when I’m burnt out or distracted, I need to
remember not to force the story. I need to remind myself that I could be doing
more damage than good to my WIP and step away from the laptop. That’s
frustrating when I want to get words on the page, but I know ultimately the
story will be better for it. Discretion over duty will result in quality words
and not just crappy words that were written for the sake of writing.

What Else I’ve
Been Up To:

As I mentioned, my boys and I took off on a spur of
the moment vacation at the start of November. We went to New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island, two of Canada’s beautiful maritime provinces. I’d been
there when I was a kid and wanted to go back again ever since. Tourist season
is over there by this time of year, so some of the landmarks we visited we had
entirely to ourselves. In a word: peaceful. Here are some photos of our
whirlwind trip. There are a lot, so don’t feel obligated to look at them all, but
if you’re interested feel free to browse.

These are the St. Martins sea caves on the coast of the Bay of Fundy. We were the only ones there and these pictures couldn't possibly capture how gorgeous the caves are. We wrote our names in the sand for fun, and the tide will have washed them away by now. What a refreshing and memorable afternoon!

Here we're at the Hopewell Rocks, also on the Bay of Fundy. These are called flowerpot rocks because of the trees growing on top. At low tide, the eroded bottoms of the rocks are exposed and you can walk on the beach around them. Unfortunately neither of the low tides the day we visited were during daylight hours, so we hiked on the trails above the cliffs instead. It was rainy and quiet, except for the sound of the water. Amazing.

This is at Green Gables on Prince Edward Island. As a quirky redheaded writer, I've always felt that Anne Shirley and I are Kindred Spirits. I first visited Green Gables when I was eleven years old, but this time I got a kiss while hiking on "Lovers Lane." FYI, my husband has read further in the Anne series than I have. We also wandered through the Haunted Woods and visited L.M. Montgomery's grave.

I've never been to a Canadian city with as much character as Saint John, New Brunswick. The historic architecture, especially in Uptown Saint John, is incredible. This is the Saint John City Market. The centre of the building is a farmer's market, while little restaurants line the outside. We went for tea and scones at the Infusion tea room there. Delicious and quaint. We also spent some time walking along the harbour.

More photos of Uptown Saint John, including dinner at the fabulous Saint John Ale House. We basically did a pub crawl across New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Great food and craft beer!

And last, but certainly not least, this is the main branch library in Saint John. It's so cool I could've sat there and stared at it all day. Seriously, look at those huge, awesome books beside the doors! Couldn't resist sharing some pics of it!

Well, that was our trip. I have loads more pictures, but I've overdone it as it is. It's hard to adequately convey how beautiful New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are: the history and architecture, the ocean, the abundance of trees, the lighthouses and covered bridges, the friendly people who made us feel so welcome there. I wish we had more time to enjoy it!